A few painting near the Lachine Canal

Part of the canal wall was removed and replaced with a wetlands area, consisting of reeds mostly, and a few small trees growing. Birds like to stay here especially the red-winged black birds. Grass was starting to turn green, it was a lime-chartreuse colour made with bismuth yellow (PY184), yellow (PY154), green (PG36) and earth colours. 

Reeds near Canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

This big tree grows in a popular lounge spot near the Lachine canal, it must be near a hundred years old. All of the old iron utility poles were cut down by the city, they left just about 2 meters of each one standing as a memento perhaps. The structures had become unstable. 

Big tree Canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Where the footbridge crosses the canal, there is a roundabout to help bikes merge with the path, and to protect pedestrians. Arrows show you which direction to go. In the background is the canal, with PJD26 written on the wall. 

Roundabout Canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

Parc du Souvenir, highway ramps

Parc du Souvenir is a small square with a few benches and plenty of tall trees. Oddly enough, the ground appears to be paved in asphalt, and covered in old leaves. A turquoise tent was set up towards the back to the park, behind, two highway overpasses and hints of Montreal's skyline can be seen. The trees are done with a mix of earth paints, applied over top of the background elements. 

 Parc du Souvenir spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

This on-ramp connect Fort street to highway 136 (Boulevard Ville Marie), and goes over the train tracks. Typical 'sweaty' Montreal concrete is adorned with a yellow paint tag by PJD26, done with bismuth vanadate yellow (PY184).  

Fort street on ramp, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

This off-ramp connect the highway to st Marc street downtown. There is actually a wide area called the Ernest Cormier Esplanade which is a mix of grassy lawns, concrete slabs, and architectural-style sculptures. Its a surprisingly good place to stand and paint urban scenes, and there might be a large number of flowering shrubs, good to check out again in May. 

Off ramp spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

 

My Birthday Trip

Today is a special day, on April 19^th 1943 a scientist named Albert Hofmann accidentally took some LSD that he prepared for entirely other reasons, rode his bike home... and had an 'acid trip'. Everything looked a little odd and he had a kind of out-of-body experience due to the drug's effect. Coincidentally, I was born on this day, although quite a bit later than 1943! Truth is, I never tried LSD, which may surprise some people who know my abstract art... In this painting I went with the theme, using an old painting called sky emotes, which has like 250 views by the way, and turned it into a new painting. 

My birthday Trip, watercolour 8 x 10" hot press, 2026

 

Here is part of an older painting, done in 2010 shortly after watching Avatar... I liked the idea of neon things creating a variety of glowing effects. The rest of the painting is purely abstract expressionism, I like to call it doodleism. 

Neon trail right, watercolour 8 x 10" hot press, 2010 

 

Completing the birthday trip, here is a floating flower, I might have been thinking of stem cells or something something. More truth, I used to drink a fair bit of beer and then make watercolour paintings, I don't anymore, mostly sober for 12 years. In fact, my art is even better and slightly more odd while painting sober which is cool to know. But you can tell whatever story you want. Anyways, here's to 50 more birthdays!

Floating Flower, watercolour 9 x 12" paper

 

 

Old Maltage factory panorama

With wind blasting down the Canal today, it was all I could do to hold on to the painting and keep my bike from blowing over. From across the canal, there is a great view of the old Maltage factory, now a Montreal icon. Its completely visible from all angles, and provides a great backdrop for selfies along the canal bike paths. People stop all the time to take pictures of it, and intrepid kids still go in and explore the dangerous unstable structure. Its one of the few places where you can still see a SAKE graffiti art... he used to be the most prolific writer in Montreal, with thousands of graffitis, but he retired about ten years ago and people painted over his stuff. The PJD 26 on the right most silo was actually a SLUK rappel piece, he uses mountain climbing equipment and paint rollers to make these large wall murals. Recently, he did a piece on the Molson Brewery along with KONG but it has been buffed off now. 

Old Maltage factory panorama, watercolour 8 x 10" cold press, April 2026 

Yellow flowers, Spring is here!?

I had been lamenting the fact that everything was still grey and brown... today I finally saw some yellow wild flowers growing down in the industrial-residential area near the Lachine canal. The rest of the grassy expanse, which is a community nature reserve, was a mottled mix of toasty yellow, olive, brown, dark yellow and green. I used a variety of colours and brush techniques to create the effect of a Springtime field of grass. 

First flowers, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

On the left you see part of the SCAN tribute wall, along Cabot street south of the Canal. I hadn't noticed before but the wall, seen in tuquoise here, is a giant rendition of SCAN, the letters reaching about 4 stories high. Also, the people who did the wall, shortly after SCAN died, are graffiti artists from Montreal and around the world. If you are into graffiti or urban art, this place is worth a visit. Its near the corner of Avenue Gilmore, seen in between the green shed and the SCAN warehouse. The writer on the side wall was FOST, an old timer, but I changed it to my initials. 

Scan wall, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026

Here is a painting of the Canal lock overflow falls, it has a pedestrian and bike bridge going across. In the background there were a bunch of highway signs from autoroute 15. There was a massive BTH graffiti on the stone walls, its the name of a crew, but I changed the first letter to P, and put in a JD. In fact, I almost always change the graffiti to be my initials because its fun to do so. Copying a graffiti artist's style is called 'biting'. 

Lock falls Spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

I sized-up this old metal post several times for a painting, but never went ahead with it. Today I figured it was time, you never know how long these things last. The post was originally painted with iron oxide colour, and had a number stamped on with yellow painted font. Over the years, it rusted out, paint chipped, and someone spray painted their initials over top with silver paint. It was a very technical painting to do, since you can not paint light on dark, I had to establish the yellow and silver-effect, then paint around the lettering. In the background is a sweaty old warehouse covered in PJD 26! Some kids were walking around the roof of this thing... seemed dangerous but I can understand the appeal of exploring old buildings. 

Zen factory biting, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

What's the blue stuff in the sky?

Today, after I got out of the office finally, I wondered: What's the blue stuff in the sky? Normally the sky is grey and rainy... oh yeah, its a blue sky! And that yellow circle up there... its the sun! Finally a bit of sun, and tomorrow will even be a balmy 21℃ in Montreal. In this scene I am looking up at the old Maltage factory tower adorned with a red and pink house. The sky is done by blending phthalo green (PG7) with phthalo blue sapphire (PB15), the one from Holbein. Using most any other phthalo blue wont work because the formulas tend to be staining and obnoxious. The Holbein one is easier to control in blended washes, its one of the few paints I would recommend by brand, phthalo blue sapphire from Holbein. 

Old Maltage looking up, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Here is the adjacent view, although I omitted all the graffiti this time, just PJD 26 if you look closely enough. I cut up another painting and am using the back of it for some paintings. The brick is a blend of red ochre (PR102), pyrol orange (PO73) and orange (PO62). 

Old Maltage side, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

The boulevard Monk bridge it hard to paint, its a light grey against a dark blue and orange background. In watercolour you have to paint the background in between the foreground elements since there is no way to paint light over dark. 

Monk bridge canal, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

This secretive building is some sort of data center, it has imposing green tinted windows and a confusing array of lego-brick-like architecture. The olive greens of the pine tree and grass set well against the greens and turquoises, along with a sapphire blue sky. 

Secret building entrance, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Here is the so called 'Twisty Groove', its a small vacant lot that was once mowed, now they just let it grow wild. At the moment, the grass is coming up and it almost looks like a normal lawn, but soon it will overgrow with wild plants, flowers, and attract butterflies. That is, if the city can leave it alone! 

Twisty groove spring, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026  

Night angles

Along the Maisonneuve bike path there are a few car washes and auto mechanics, including this one called Lave Auto. It was closed of course, being late at night, but there was still an eerie greenish glow coming from the interior. In the background there was a residential building with lights on. The sky had an interesting gradation of mauve, which was mixed with indo blue (PB60) pyrol orange (PO73) and some purple magenta (PV55) along the top. 

Lave Auto night angle,  watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026 

Further towards downtown and there are good views of the Farine Five Roses sign at night, illuminated in bright red lights against a dark blue-cyan sky. In the foreground is a long warehouse with lights reflecting on the Lachine Canal, ice melted finally, and a commuter train went by, you can see it in the middle of the scene. 

Farine Five Roses train canal night, watercolour 6 x 7.5" cold press, April 2026